Seth Godin

CEO, Yoyodyne Entertainment

Real Time asked Yoyodyne Entertainment CEO Seth Godin to talk about what it takes to be a fast company. Following is a partial transcription of his session:

"How do you get fast? The rate of change now is giving companies -- big and small -- a big headache. But actually it's the greatest opportunity in the last 100 years.

"In the long run -- we're all dead.

"No company started in 1642 is still around. In the shorter long-run, we're all going to get fired, quit or get hired away. There's really not that much risk. Face it. Shift happens. So, ask yourself, how do I go out there and change?

"Statement number one -- Fast Companies are not necessarily staffed with insomniac workaholics. Going home every night at 6 p.m. is a fine discipline. Being a fast company is not about how many hours you work.

"Statement number two -- Being a fast company has nothing to do with computers. It's easy to fall in love with computers, but it takes more than a gun to be a gun slinger.

"Statement number three -- Half of all fast companies aren't really fast companies, they're just low companies that got lucky and got good publicity. Just because it worked doesn't mean that you know why it did. Just because one company succeeded doesn't mean it will work again. Frankly, we often don't now why we succeed. Being a fast company is not about tactics.

"What are the top ten attributes of a fast company?

"One, fearlessness. What have you got to lose? Most organizations don't reward that -- they reward 'keep your head down and don't get pummeled'. But control leads to failure. Geocities is going to go public, and they don't control what any of the individual cities do to a large degree. That's the opposite approach to Prodigy, which is about to go bust. Prodigy said: we have to control every word. At one point, they had 100 people reading every message posted to Prodigy. You used to be able to get away with control. Now embracing the lack of control helps you. The reason that so much exciting stuff comes out of new companies is that they have nothing to lose.

"Two, flexibility. The old way is not necessarily the right way. The last guy with an original idea at your company probably died a few years ago. Hierarchies hate flexibility. So do lawyers, cost-cutting accountants and people ruled by fear. Egghead Software closed all their stores in one day in favor of selling on the Net. Their stock went up by one-third. That's brave. Our business model is that our business model changes.

"Three, bravery. Individuals with guts -- which is different from fearlessness. It must be cherished and rewarded. Employees who undercut bravery should be executed publicly. There are people in a company who will always pick on the brave people. Organizations cannot be brave. Only individuals can. The naysayers should be shot.

"Four, change junkies rule. Start fixing what isn't broken. People who thrive on chaos will win. Acknowledge that shift happens and embrace it. Ask: what if? What if? What if...? Cannibalization is good! Wholesale whacking at the current establishment is good. If everything is under control, it's not. Change you're business before your business gets changed for you. Levi Strauss made suits. They lost some money. Big deal. It led them to create Dockers, the most profitable brand in men's clothing.

"Five, freelancers -- The Free Agent Nation. How do you avoid being an average company? Never hire anyone who brings the average down in your company. If your organization has a requirement to grow -- hire out to people who will be above the average.

"Six, permission -- destroying the need for ongoing marketing reinvention. To have an economy you need scarcity. One hundred years ago it was stuff. That scarcity has changed. There isn't a scarcity of stuff to buy. The scarcity now is time. 120 years ago the average person in this country saw about five marketing messages a day. Today, she sees about 3,000. This model that consumers can be interrupted has faded. It's worn out. It doesn't work anymore. Advertising is fundamentally flawed -- interrupt people and hope they listen! It doesn't work. You can't interrupt people who don't want to hear from you. The good news is that you can talk to me whenever it's in our mutual interest. That's a great asset.

"Seven, reciprocity. Cutthroat monopolists need not apply. Greedy, selfish companies rarely succeed. They get that way when they achieve dominance. A fast company realizes that it's almost never on the top, because the minute it is one of its change agents is going to shake it up. A fast company is always starting over at the bottom. Besides, life's too short to work with jerks.

"Eight, quality. But just the right kind. If you focus on getting it perfect the first time, you'll never ship it. And people in your company will use "quality" as a way to cover for fear. The new model is tell the company that the product isn't perfect, and work with the customer to improve it. Think about how to build dialogues instead of monologues.

"Nine, chasm avoidance. You can invent almost anything, and if it's cool enough, you can sell it to the early adopters. Problem is the more mainstream people don't want the same thing that early adopters want. They don't want something cool, they want what works. Instead of spending the money to kill the first product and launch the second, which would appeal to the second group, companies keep making more of the first products. That's what kills you. Problem is companies make the mistake of not having enough money to go for it to create that second product.

"Ten, a guerrilla approach to markets and to life. Care a lot about relationships, but don't care about traditional rules. They're cheap and they always plan ahead in writing. Learn from mistakes."

To find out more about Godin read Founding Editor Bill Taylor's interview with him on "Permission Marketing".